


Death Can't Stop Him

by StripedScribe



Series: Febuwhump2021 [11]
Category: Daredevil (TV), Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Defenders (Marvel TV)
Genre: FebuWhump2021, Gen, Ghosts, Hallucinations, Haunting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-11
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-17 17:00:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29353860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StripedScribe/pseuds/StripedScribe
Summary: A man gone missing, unnoticed in the chaos of a broken city.The Devil, buried under the city he tried to protect. People scrabbling to pick up the pieces, watched by a shadow.FebuWhump Day 11 [Hallucinations]
Relationships: Luke Cage & Jessica Jones & Matt Murdock & Danny Rand, Matt Murdock & Peter Parker
Series: Febuwhump2021 [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2136723
Comments: 6
Kudos: 19





	Death Can't Stop Him

There was a devil haunting the streets. There had been, for years, and they’d named him, treated him as one of their own. A protector, even in the darkness of the Kitchen, looking after his people. He wasn’t human, they said. Was something more, they said. The true Devil, a spirit. He knew everything that happened within his borders, only came out at night, spoke in a gruff voice.

There hadn’t been an attempt to find his identity, because they all knew there wasn’t one. He couldn’t be human, to know all he did, to do what he did. Any human alter-ego would be the disguise, the mask, and they’d see them easily.

And even if there was a person under that suit, they all knew what would happen to the person foolish enough to try and find out who it was. That they’d end up under the claws of the Devil, not dead, not killed, but terrified out of their mind. He didn’t kill. Even the Devil didn’t kill, above what the true monsters of the city did.

He could ruin someone though. Had ruined people, on the wrong side of the law. Taken down the dirty cops, done what he could to save them all, tidy up their streets, known as Hell long before he settled in.

There were those who were lucky enough to run with the Devil. He’d been spotted with Spider-Man, Deadpool. More locally, the team called the Defenders, super-powered people, branching out, protecting New York. Everything happened in New York. Too much happened in Hell’s Kitchen, for this little district to deal with, it was why they’d ended up with a Devil. Their own protection detail, chasing away the monsters.

But it was these people who ran with him, that would be the only people to know the truth. That the Devil had died, had been crushed under the city he tried to save.

A man gone missing, unnoticed in the chaos of a broken city.

The Daredevil, returned to the streets not quite the same, not moving in the same way. Not speaking anymore, a voice a clear give-away to what had happened. A mask worn by others, a trading game, keeping the city protected. But to the people of the city, it was the same. A cryptid, a myth, a spirit over the city.

It was weeks before the ones wearing the suit noticed the shadows. A presence in the corner of their eye when they wore the suit, a voice in their ear.

A hallucination, welcome company in the darkness of Hell. Whispered words in the wind, directions, locations.

Perched above the city, horns in the darkness, the smallest of the copycats. And at his back, a shadow, seen by the city, matching horns reaching up to the sky. A sight to fear, and a sight that continued with the other copies. Even they had their protector.

Even Death couldn’t keep the Devil from his city and his people.

* * *

He’d thought it was just him, that he’d finally lost it. Too many nights spent juggling two suits, starting off as Spider-Man in Queens, then taking up Daredevil’s mantle in Hell’s Kitchen. Tiredness, with that on top of schoolwork, trying to spend time with May, with his friends.

A shadow followed him. He hadn’t noticed at first, a tickle on the spider-sense, a feeling of being watched. No screams of danger up his spine, no worry. If anything, he would call it reassurance.

He thought it was his mind playing tricks. Mourning. Memories.

Every time the horns were on his head, he’d feel it. That presence. Growing stronger as the weeks went on. As they passed a month’s anniversary, then two, then six. Raw grief healing into something more manageable, stories not always leading them all to tears.

The first night it whispered to him, he almost fell off his perch. Thankful for sticky hands, no webs tonight. And then the whispers continued. Guiding him, keeping him company.

It was only a matter of time before he whispered back. He had to. Whispered snippets, a memory, a shadow. Asking May for advice, warnings to not meddle with the dead, to not touch what they didn’t know.

But it was Matt. It was him, he knew it. He had died under that rubble, but he was still here, still patrolling and caring. A shadow of the Devil, protecting his city.


End file.
